Benford's Law

Benford's Law states that in most (but not all) real-life data, the leading digit is distributed in a specific, non-uniform way. That is, a number will begin with a 1 more than it will begin with a 2, begin with a 2 more than it will begin with a 3, and so on. Benford's Law applies to populations of cities, numbers found in newspapers, molecular weights, addresses, death rates. Jeff O'Connell will discuss this truly amazing result including how it is being used to detect fraudulent transactions. This talk will also include the history that led to Benford finding this result. And how, if he had owned a calculator, he never would have discovered it. The Mathematics in this talk will be accessible to any level.

Speaker: Jeff O'Connell, Ohlone College

Room 3201, Building 3

Rescheduled from 4/12